Dubuque, IA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Under Dubuque City Code Section 16-5-21, the AG district "is intended to conserve farmland for agricultural purposes and to serve as a 'holding' zone to prevent the premature development of large land acreages and of recently annexed land for which the most appropriate future use has not yet been determined." Section 16-5-21-1 flatly prohibits feedlots and livestock confinement operations anywhere in the district, a carve-out that matters for anyone assuming all farming is automatically allowed. Section 16-5-21-2 lists the principal permitted uses: farming and agriculture including field crops, livestock, horticulture, forestry, animal husbandry and similar activities, plus noncommercial nurseries and railroad or public utility substations.

Conditional uses under Section 16-5-21-3, which require review under Section 16-8-5, add kennels, quarries, retail sale of agricultural products, wind energy conversion systems and wineries; the winery and wind-energy additions came via Ordinance 35-15 in 2015. Accessory uses under Section 16-5-21-4 permit barbed wire or electric fencing for livestock containment, barns and sheds, seasonal produce sales, and a single-family detached dwelling only on a lot of ten acres or more where the house is incidental to an active agricultural use on the same parcel. Bulk regulations for the AG district are reserved for future use under Section 16-5-21-8, meaning no lot area, frontage, coverage or setback table currently applies to AG parcels the way it does for Dubuque's other zoning districts. Parking and signage in the AG district default to the citywide standards in Chapter 14 and Chapter 15 respectively rather than AG-specific rules.